110 Years of ABI: Boston Woven Hose and a Tale of Tape

ABI ranked on Fortune 500's Top Businessesin the Country from the 60s and early 70s.

In 1956, ABI made a very important acquisition: Boston Woven Hose, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. With a rich history in manufacturing rubber goods, BWH was a perfect addition to the ABI family. From that point on, if it involved rubber, we made it: heels and soles, flooring, conveyor belts, hoses, jar rings, synthetic turf, and even friction tape, which BWH had manufactured since the early 1900s.

After the acquisition of Boston Woven Hose, AccurateManufactuing, and Hampton Tape, ABI was able tooffer a wide range of tape products.

From 1962 to 1970, ABI ranked on the Fortune 500 as one of the top businesses in the country. At the same time, we experienced a large amount of growth in the tape business and the production of tape products began to take on an identity of its own. During the latter half of the 60’s, to enhance our tape offerings, ABI acquired Accurate Manufacturing Company, in Garfield, NJ, and Hampton Tape, which had plants in New Rochelle, NY and Lowell, MA.

As the premask business took off in the mid 70’s, it made sense to combine our plants, so we closed our operations in New Rochelle and Lowell and moved the business to a property we owned in historic Philadelphia. With our new headquarters, we had officially established the American Biltrite Tape Products Division, now known as ABI Tape.

A collection of ABI's tape products in 1976, most notablyBulldog Tapes.

Into the 80’s, ABI’s thriving Tape Division needed room to expand beyond our Philadelphia and Garfield locations. In 1981, headquarters was moved to a new operation just across the bridge from Philadelphia in Mount Laurel, NJ. By 1983, we were already expanding our Mt. Laurel operation, but the promise of more than one new home was just over the horizon.